6 Cleaning Tips to Make Your Home Healthier in the New YearNews from Closer Weekly:

Ready for a brand new you and a healthier home in 2015? Jotham Hatch [pictured below], director of Training at Chem-Dry, is here to share six tips that will transform your surroundings right before your very eyes!

1. Regularly wipe down countertops. Countertops are not only where food is prepared, but it’s also where dirt, dust, bacteria and allergen particles floating in the air often settle. If you have a countertop with granite or tile, it’s best to use a mild cleaner and preferably one that can refresh the sealer. Sealers can degrade over time and it’s important to keep that sealer fresh to prevent bacteria from getting into the porous areas of the stone.

2. Keep carpets and rugs clean. To improve the life and appearance of your carpet, vacuum your carpets and rugs weekly with a bag vacuum, preferably one that has either a HEPA filter or a microfiltration system. However, it is important to note that while vacuuming does pick up dirt and dust on the surface, there can be a lot of bacteria and allergens trapped deep down within the fibers of the carpet – including pet dander and urine, particle pollution and everyday dirt and dust. While these toxins may not be visible to homeowners, they can still b…………… continues on Closer Weekly

The 49-year-old Pataskala man spent far more than a decade cleaning carpets prior to becoming executive editor of Cleanfax magazine, targeted at the floor-cleaning and disaster-restoration industries.

He also runs Entirely Booked University, which trains floor cleaners all through the nation and tests them for the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, primarily based in Vancouver, Wash.

In other words, if you have a carpet stain, Jeff Cross is your man.

Sadly, plenty of homeowners could use his knowledge at this time of year.

“It’s a large time now up till the 23rd of December,” Cross said. “After that, we will do emergency stuff.”

The most typical holiday carpet stains, according to a cleaning institute survey, conjure up a bacchanalia. In order, they are chocolate, fruit punch, grease, wine, candle wax, vomit, beer, gravy and butter.

These may possibly be the most widespread, but they are not — according to Cross — the worst.

“The most hard are curries, mustards, spices — particularly in Indian meals — with yellow. Some soy sauces are also bad,” Cross stated. “Then there are synthetic stains such as K…………… continues on Macro Insider

FARGO, N.D. — After trimming the tree and hanging the stockings, don’t forget about the sparkle.

The holiday season can be a stressful time as we scramble to present a festive, immaculately clean house to our guests — complete with the finest silver, china and crystal that often goes unused the rest of the year.

It doesn’t have to be that way, according to three local experts who offered their advice to keep the house spick and span without the frustration.

Here are some tips to make your holiday home cleaning a little jollier.

Shiny silver

The donated silver pieces that get dropped off at Heirlooms in Fargo hardly ever come in clean and shiny.

But Bev Rohde, manager of the resale store operated by Hospice, has a trick from none other than Martha Stewart that makes the process easier and less labor-intensive, and it only requires a few ingredients and a little time.

First, line a plastic tub or dish basin with aluminum foil. Pour in about half a cup of water softener — Rohde recommends Calgon, which is available in the laundry detergent aisle at Wal-Mart.

Add about one-eighth of a cup of table salt, fill the tub with warm water, and swish it around to mix up the solution.

“Then you dip your silver into it, and a lot of silver just brightens right up in front of your very eyes,” she said.

driver creates a wall of water by driving through a flooded portion of South Abel Street during the Dec. 11 storm that caused ponding all over Milpitas. Photo by Stoney Meagher

The massive storm that hit the Bay Area last week with gusty winds and heavy rains, causing flooding and downed trees in Milpitas, resulted in no reported injuries here. Still, the rains that arrived on Dec. 11 and tapered the next day coincided with a high tide that city officials say led to flooding — and prompted concerns of more significant flooding — in north Milpitas neighborhoods.

High water levels took place in many areas of town including properties along North Milpitas Boulevard and in the Dixon Landing Road area.

Taking care of winter footwear is essential as they tend to get smelly. Apart from this, cleaning winter footwear helps increase their life. Among all footwears, the shoes or sandals we wear get dirty easily. They need extra care and pampering. Boldsky presents some tips to clean winter footwear.

Over time, any footwear gets worn out. However, with certain things, you can protect them. Keep in mind that it is bette…………… continues on BoldSky

Jacksonville area giving may be at its peak, but it hasn’t been able to fill every need in the area this holiday season just yet.

While various programs work to ensure no child will go without a gift, local nonprofits still need help preparing for sudden financial needs that people in the community may face this time of year.

“We’re still in need of toys and clothing donations, as well as monetary funds for last-minute requests that come into our office,” said Captain Tavia Williams, corps officer with the Salvation Army.

The toys would go to the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, where trees around town are decorated with numbered paper angel tags with information about a child. Jones County children are in particular need of gift donations, in part because they cannot receive toys through Onslow County programs like Christmas Cheer, Williams said.

The Salvation Army could use donations to their food pantry, which can help sustain the program after seasonal giving dies down, and as the temperatures continue to drop, the need for coats, blankets and hats for the homeless in the community increases. Donations of any kind can be dropped off at any of the Salvation Army stores in the area, where they will be sent back to the administrative office at 535 Bell Fork Road in Jacksonville.

For more information on the Jacksonville Salvation…………… continues on Jacksonville Daily News

Time Saving Cleaning Tips For A Stress-Free Holiday SeasonNews from Huffington Post Canada:

‘Tis the season to make a mess. From baking gingerbread men, to preparing five-course meals for family and friends, it’s all extremely daunting and stressful for this non-domesticated 30-something-year-old.

Overflowing sink full of dirty dishes, pots and pans that always seem to have a strange residue left behind, a Vitamix that looks like it’s straight out of a horror movie and a sticky fridge that is too overwhelming to actually acknowledge. I never got a chance to really learn the tips and tricks of cleaning. As a klutzy kid, my mom pretty much banned me from all things kitchen related after the infamous “egg incident of 1987.” Lets just say I will never run with a handful of raw eggs around expensive furniture again.

With no budget for a live-in maid and an innate dislike of cleaning, I enlisted supermom entrepreneur Kalpana Kundra for advice. Somehow with twin six-year-old girls, a hubby and a start-up business, her house is always spotless. Kalpana is such a cleaning fanatic that she even created her own revolutionary line of reusable cooking liners that eliminate all those wasted hours scrubbing grills, pots and pans. The former high-powered marketing manager used to…………… continues on Huffington Post Canada

This holiday season, create a welcoming environment for your guests. From getting your home ready for company to managing the many messes that come with a packed home, there are several cleaning tips to help you enjoy the fun at hand without the extra stress.

“The holiday season offers up an abundance of get-togethers,” said Coryanne Ettiene, home and lifestyle expert at Kitchen Living with Coryanne. “But all of this merriment can bring about a lot of messes and more cleaning for the busy host.”

Tips for spick and span spaces

Ettiene offers up these tips for tidying so you can keep your holly jolly home in guest-approved order this season:

Act like a guest. A properly cleaned home requires close attention to the details. Before you get out the duster and cleaning solutions, look through each room with a visitor’s eye. That pile of old magazines in the corner may be something you overlook each day but should be straightened before the guests arrive.

Prep your kitchen surfaces. Often serving as the base camp for holiday entertaining, the kitchen deserves some extra attention. For kitchens with granite and other natural-stone surfaces, use an effective cleaner, such as the Granite Gold three-part system of cleaning, sealing and polishing before the party to ensure that it looks c…………… continues on Muscatine Journal

Q. I recently acquired an authentic Chinese cleaver. I love how it gets big cutting jobs done quickly, especially when I’m working with bones. But it’s pure steel and rusts every time I wash it. Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent this? Also, where can I get my knives sharpened professionally?

A. Never wash kitchen knives the way you wash everything else! Never ever put knives in the sink with all the dishes and tableware! And never, never, ever put knives into the dishwasher!

Professional cooks give their knives a quick cleaning immediately after they’ve finished using them. They run water over the blades, scrubbing them with a plastic-bristled brush if necessary. Then they wipe them dry with a towel, and put them away, preferably in a block. That routine is especially important for the kind of metal you seem to have in that cleaver. I must tell you not to get too attached to that cleaver, as any knife that rusts that easily is far from the best quality.

Good knives in normal use need to be sharpened only rarely–once or twice a year. I have knives that go unsharpened for many years while still cutting efficiently. What you must do before each use, however, is to use a steel to true the edge frequently. The one I have is coated with diamond dust. Only a negligible part of the blade comes off the blade when you do that.

Cleaning for fun: Tips and tricks to avoiding household tasksNews from The Reflector:

My domicile is somewhere between pigpen and paradise. Many domestic divas inspire me to keep a sense of humor while tackling the dust bunnies and crusty laundry in my own home. The following techniques have helped me avoid the rigid confines of keeping an immaculate home. In addition, they may be the quickest fix to making your home appear cleaner, your life to flow easier, and help keep a smile on your face while doing it.

The first tip on my list is to lighten up, cut yourself some slack, and realize nobody’s perfect – nor does your home have to be immaculate. You may be piling too many tasks on your undeserving shoulders, tasks that are best done by a team of experts. Who said you had to be superwoman anyway? Once I started to lower my standards, it helped others to see that I was not the domestic diva they thought I was. I was more like a shove-it-in-the-oven-or-under-a-drop-cloth slob sister. Besides, who can move and breathe freely in a flawless home anyway? My advice is to take some deep cleansing breaths, lower your standards, and delegate as much work as possible.

My next bit of advice has to do with laundry. Believe it or not there are tomes written on removing and preventing stains in clothing. Who knew? Don Aslett’s Stain Buster’s Bible is one of them that I was privileged t…………… continues on The Reflector